Prelinger Archives
6,097–6,144 of 10,346 films, free to watch, from the world's open archives.
Where these films come from, and who sees what
Every film here plays from the archive that keeps it: the Internet Archive, Wikimedia Commons, the NASA Image and Video Library, the Library of Congress and Open Images (the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision). Nothing is copied to this site. Each film's page names its archive, links to its page there, and states its licence or status as the archive does.
Archive films carry no age ratings, so each is placed from the collections it sits in and the subjects the archive gives it, cautiously. Sexual content and nudity are left out altogether.
| Little Ones | Films for young children by name: nursery rhymes, lullabies, preschool. |
|---|---|
| Kids | Cartoons and animation, children's and family films, and educational films, unless they deal with war, propaganda, crime, horror or drugs, or carry racial caricature. |
| Tweens | Documentaries, science, nature and space, classic comedies, newsreels, commercials and lectures. |
| Teens | Everything else, including anything we cannot tell about; war, crime, horror and westerns go no lower. |
| Adult | Sexual themes (such as the old "sex hygiene" films), gore, surgery, slaughter, atrocity footage. |
Internet Archive
[Chinatown Parade: Year of the Rooster, 1957]
Internet Archive
Movie Trailers ("This Theatre Will Be Open Throughout The Entire Year")
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Paul Steelman Collection: 004112
Documents an ice storm, a road trip, travel on Route 66 through Texas and Missouri among other places and detailed sequences expressing inclusive youth culture.
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 10739: Detroit-Area Television Antenna Installers
To come.
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 004533: Del Monte Weekend, July 4, 1941
Footage of the Hotel Del Monte, Monterey, California, parades in downtown San Francisco, California, Mickey Rooney tennis match in Berkeley, California, army…
Internet Archive
[Untitled: Low Rent Housing]
Housing problems in Philadelphia; interviews with residents, housing providers and supportive housing groups
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 98616: San Francisco Scenes
To come.
Internet Archive
Farming Takes Skill
The 1950s footage depicts various aspects of agricultural life in the United States, showcasing the daily activities on a farm. It begins with scenes of…
Internet Archive
[Home Movies: Bonomo Home Movies: FDR Opens Whitestone Bridge 1939; LaGuardia Airport 1940; World's Fair]
FDR opens Whitestone Bridge. LaGuardia Airport.
Internet Archive
Mode-Art Can 2062
Outtake footage from the production, "Heritage of a Meter." Includes shots of Westinghouse electrical meters and workers on assembly lines. Mode-Art…
Internet Archive
Vista Stock Shots: San Francisco Scenics
Internet Archive
Chance to Lose, A
Driver safety Skeletal entry
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 98360: Family Scenes
To come.
Internet Archive
[Home movie: 098951: 1950s family scenes from the eastern U.S. featuring horses, ponies, and domestic work]
Home movie from 1950s eastern U.S. family with scenes of horseback riding, pony riding, a horse-drawn sled, a memorial service, small home exteriors, and…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 003431
A family in upstate New York, with footage of sailors doing marching drills, a family taking a boat ride, and children playing around their home. Note in can…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 97192: Pacific Northwest
To come
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Galante Collection: 003378
Steady snowfall in a wooded landscape where the Galante family had their "Hidden Home". There are people shown happily building a snowman and enjoying a…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Janet Dill Collection: 004070
A family visiting Delray Beach, Florida, a go-kart race, and a graduation ceremony at Lehigh University. Can notes: "C7 / Delray 4/5- 5/15 / and Karting,…
Internet Archive
Mode-Art Can 2668 (positive)
Staged promotional or advertising footage of canned beans and ketchup with stop-motion animation of cans and bottles of ingredients.
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 004525
A road trip through mountain landscapes and Joshua Tree National Monument; scenes in Pioneertown, California; oil wells and panoramic shots of Long Beach,…
Internet Archive
Home movie: 170004_001: 1940s Russian River trip and California agriculture
Home movie: 170004_001: 1940s Russian River trip and California agriculture
Internet Archive
The Golden Clown
Digest version of a Danish feature. "The Clown (Danish: Klovnen) is a 1926 Danish silent drama film directed by A.W. Sandberg and starring Gösta Ekman, Karina…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 10808: Vacation to El Paso, Los Angeles and San Francisco
Can labeled: Vacation to El Paso, L.A. & S.F. 3-11 to 20-61 II.
Internet Archive
[Home Movies: Can 10534: Western Trip, Canyons, 1951]
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Schultz Collection: 004134
Footage of cathedrals in France, including Ronchamp Chapel and Cathedrale Notre-Dame d'Amiens. Reel begins with a sequence of still images. Can notes:…
Internet Archive
United States: A Ten Talent Nation, The
Reel 13: Mineral Resources
Internet Archive
[Gould can 5484.5: Kinograms Newsreel]
Shanghai, China: Opium confiscated and burned
Internet Archive
For Lands Sake: Agriculture Keeps New Jersey Green
Skeletal Entry
Internet Archive
Dorothy Prelinger in France, ca. 1947-48
Home movie shot by unknown cameraperson showing Dorothy Prelinger in France, ca. 1947-48
Internet Archive
Old MacDonald
Internet Archive
Elementary School: Part One: School Environment and Healthful Living, The
Filmed in 68 schools throught Virginia Skeletal Entry
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 97490: Home and Friends, Midwest
To come.
Internet Archive
Exploring the Spectrum (Part 2)
Content advisory: Depiction of carceral labor, with incarcerated people gardening. Depiction and description of animal experimentation and cruelty to animals.…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Tuohino Collection: 003524
A visit to Marineland of the Pacific; a California beach to harvest mussels; a school's recess or possibly Spring celebration; two girls riding horses; and…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Janet Dill Collection: 004066
Home movie footage of a family vacationing in Bayville, Maine. Can notes: "C3 / Summer 1962 / Times Tower with the Burke's / Pool / Fishing with the Bout's…
Internet Archive
[Home movie: 098905: 1955 road trip to Washington, DC, Florida, and Mexico]
From a Michigan family of older adults: A 1955 road trip on the Pennsylvania Turnpike to Washington, DC, St. Augustine, Florida, and to the U.S.-Mexico…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 096043
Life and leisure in snowbird trailer communities in the southern United States with a charming sequence of a bicycle-riding milk delivery woman distributing…
Internet Archive
[Gould can 5202.4]
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: the day World War I declared (sound)
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 004748
A family visiting several California parks and monuments in the 1950s. Note on can: "June Lake, Mammoth Lakes, Lassen Park, Shasta Dam role[sic] 15 1951"
Internet Archive
Autumn Beauty in Wyoming
Internet Archive
[Home movie: 098755: Cape Cod in the 1940s]
A Cape Cod family in the early 1940s with beach scenes, children playing in the surf, Harwich, Massachusetts, a town Cryer, Quimby's Inn, street and alley…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Bill Dicicco Collection: 004030
File 1: Scenes from Shanghai, China filmed with a white touristic gaze, on early color film (Kodacolor, using black and white film stock) in the 1930s. File…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Phal Collection: 011833
American tourists visit Suyula and Monterrey, Mexico. Includes footage of religious processions (possibly Semana Santa celebrations), a Partido Revolucionario…
Internet Archive
Calvin 0301
Outtakes from "Dog's Best Friend," Calvin Workshop production for Ralston Purina, late 1950s to 1960. Footage includes laboratory and outdoor captive research…
Internet Archive
Home movie: 170004_007: 1940s California family life and taxidermy room
Home movie: 170004_007: 1940s California family life and taxidermy room
Internet Archive
[Home movie: 098381: 1920s Mining Executives, Reel 2]
15 min., BW and color: 1920s coal mining sequence includes explosion, extraction, coal processing, factory views; the camera then follows executives on a…
Internet Archive
Mode-Art Can 1556 R1
Outtakes from "The Magic Switch," sponsored by Pennsylvania Power & Light. Suburban life and development on rural land. Mode-Art production number 1030
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Scarpulla Collection: 56
Scarpulla family gatherings from the 1940s-1960s. Includes an SF Giants baseball game and a trip to Hawaii and Yosemite. 1. F.V. Scarpulla 3625 Baker St S.F.…